Ayutthaya and Sukhothai

I've spent the last two and a half days wandering around ruins in Ayutthaya and Sukhothai - both of which are prior capitals of Siam. Ayuttaya is the more visited of the two because its proximity to Bangkok makes it an easy weekend trip.

I arrived in Ayutthaya on Tuesday and really only had the afternoon to see the ruins and temples as I had to leave early on Wednesday to go to Sukhothai. Ayutthaya is set up around river with most of the sites on the inner circle and a few sites on the opposite side of the river. It is recommended that the best way to visit is by bicycle.

Sukhothai is located further north and unlike Ayutthaya, there is an old Sukhothai and a new Sukhothai. New Sukhothai is where most people stay - about 12 km from old Sukhothai, which is the UNESCO site housing the ruins of the old capital. The ruins/temples are in a historic park, spread out over 45 square kilometers - with central, north, east and west sections. It also is supposed to be best seen by bike.

Of the two, I preferred Ayutthaya - although most guide books seem to suggest that if you can only do one, that Sukhothai is the one to see. I don't want to go into each of the temples/ruins I saw - I will post pics of those later, but it wasn't because the ruins in Ayutthaya were better preserved or better explained that I preferred it.

What I liked about Ayutthaya was that the ruins were spread about around a town/villages that continue around them. You would visit one temple, ride around for a few minutes (and in my case, when getting lost, for more than a few minutes) until you came upon and visited the next one. It felt relaxed and I felt like I got to see the way people lived today in between these 900 year old ruins.

This is not meant to take away from Sukhothai - because the ruins there are older and better preserved in some cases (although preservation work continues in both locations). The park itself was really beautiful - trees interspersed with lakes and ruins. I had gone to the park late in the afternoon on Wednesday so I was able to enter the central area for free and as I visited the ruins and temples, I saw residents of the area come in to fish or to play some football (soccer), take a stroll, and play badminton. While it is a historic site - it is also a place that can be enjoyed by its citizens. I can imagine that when it isn't the monsoon, the park is overcrowded at night with people picnicking and gathering.

In some ways, I wish my days had been reversed, that I had had a shorter time for Sukhothai and a full day in Ayutthaya - because I felt that I could cover most of it within a half a day (you can only see so many ruins for so long) - and you can do the central portion, which has the most striking and historic temples, walking (you do, however need the bike to see the other areas as the park/site is quite spread out), whereas I felt that I almost didn't do Ayutthaya full justice by only having an afternoon to visit.

I'm ultimately glad that I got to see both - but now it's back to Bangkok on my way to Cambodia.